


Red Line

by YennaWang



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff, New York, Romance, Secret Santa 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:00:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28178013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YennaWang/pseuds/YennaWang
Summary: For once this commute might not be so bad for Korra.
Relationships: Korra/Asami Sato
Comments: 26
Kudos: 156





	Red Line

**Author's Note:**

> I'm helping out my very busy brainiac friend (@omglooknoone) for Secret Santa. 
> 
> Here's a gift for @Guessillperish on tumblr. Hope you enjoy!

Korra scrunched up her nose slightly as she took in the scent of the subway. She’d gotten unlucky, ending up in one of the cars that had a truly unpleasant smell throughout it. And to her disappointment, there was no escaping it. It was the middle of rush hour and the subway was completely packed. The only thing that had ended up in her favor was that she was able to get a seat and that was only because she got on at a less busy station. But as the subway hit stop after stop it soon filled up. 

Korra hugged the backpack that was on her lap closer as the train stopped and people filtered out just to be replaced with a fresh batch of commuters. She paid no mind to them, focusing more on the music that flowed through her headphones, her head nodding subtly along with the beat. It wasn’t until she felt a slight bump against her right shoulder that she spared a glance to her side. 

The lips of the woman next to her moved, but Korra didn’t hear anything due to her music playing. She seemed to have apologized and Korra just nodded in acknowledgement. She then looked back ahead of her, focusing on the way a man’s foot tapped against the floor in impatience. 

Korra still had a long way to go until she would reach her destination, so she let her eyes close. She swayed a little more as she got into the music and let the time pass her by. She had found that the only way to make her commute bearable was through music and zoning out, separating herself from her surroundings. Her lips moved as she sang along to the songs silently. 

Usually Korra was able to avoid interacting with people by having her headphones on, but this ride became a bit different when she felt a heavy weight against her right side again. It was different this time though. Instead of the woman just bumping her, her head was now resting on Korra’s shoulder and her side was pressed against hers.

Korra opened her eyes and turned her head to tell the woman to move, but stopped when she actually focused on her. From what Korra could see, the woman had dark bags under her eyes and even asleep, she looked exhausted. Other than that, Korra wasn’t able to get a very good look at the woman from this angle. 

Korra let out a long sigh, coming to the conclusion that she could bear with this woman resting against her. Plus she only had a couple more stops until hers. In all honesty, if it had been some sleazy looking guy or someone who didn’t look the cleanest, then she would most likely have woken them up. But this woman was very well dressed and as far as Korra could tell from the sweet smell of her shampoo, she definitely was clean. 

Although she didn’t know the woman, Korra tried to stay still, trying not to disturb her sleep. She did dare to pull out her phone and scroll through her news feed. She opted to read an article about a new smart car that had supposedly driven itself across the country without any hitches. Although she knew little about cars, it was still interesting and quite impressive if it were true. 

She was just wrapping up the article when the train suddenly came to a stop, jostling many of the passengers. Surprisingly the woman next to her didn’t wake, instead her head lolled slightly and all Korra could really see was the top of her head now. 

The conductor's voice came over the intercom, apologizing for the delay and that they were looking into fixing the problem. Korra could tell that people were agitated from their body language and their facial expressions. None of that surprised her though because the cart smelled and it was fairly warm, too. Plus she assumed that most of the people had just gotten off from work and were trying to get home, which also didn’t help. 

She continued to scroll through her feed and soon five minutes became ten, ten became twenty and they still weren’t moving. Clearly something big had happened to delay the commuters for this long. And through this all, the woman still slept.

It wasn’t until the intercom came alive once more announcing that they would start moving again in five minutes that the woman stirred. Korra glanced over when she felt the weight of her head leave her shoulder. 

The woman blinked a couple of times, gradually taking in her surroundings. She moved suddenly though, rummaged through her purse for a moment before pulling out her phone. 

Again Korra couldn’t hear her, but she could definitely read her lips as the woman looked at the time on her phone. Clearly the woman needed to be someplace and she was now late from the word that she used.

The woman unlocked her phone and started sending out text after text before lifting her gaze and looking at Korra. Her lips began moving and Korra quickly lowered her headphones to rest them around her neck.

“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you,” Korra spoke.

“I asked if you know when the train will start moving again.” The woman’s voice was firm, clearly agitated.

“Oh. It should be soon. They just said it’d be around five minutes more… or well, I guess, probably three or so since they announced that a little while ago,” Korra stumbled.

“Damn, okay.” The woman sent a couple more texts before looking back at Korra again. “Sorry. Thank you,” she finally said.

“No problem. Um, you late for something?” Korra braved to ask. 

“Very,” the woman laughed slightly. “I had this big investor meeting and now I’m stuck on the subway because I thought this would be faster than getting stuck in rush hour.”

“Dang, that sucks a lot.” Korra worried her lower lip for a moment, wondering if she should continue the conversation. Luckily her mind was made up for her when the woman spoke up.

“I mean, it’s not the end of the world. It’s definitely unfortunate, but I think my team should be able to handle it. It just looks bad on me for not being there,” the woman explained.

“That’s good that you’ve got a good team then.”

“Yeah, it is.” The woman sighed as she read a text. “Do you know what delayed us?”

“No idea,” Korra said with a shake of her head. “I mean, it could be anything, we are in New York. Maybe there’s a bunch of Pizza Rats blocking the track. Or maybe there’s a wild flash mob in another cab causing the delay.”

Korra smiled when the woman laughed at her ridiculous reasons. 

“Do they even do flash mobs anymore?” the woman asked her.

“Of course!”

“There’s no way. I haven’t seen one in years.”

“You just haven’t been in the right places at the right times. I, on the other hand, have also not been.” Once again Korra was able to make the other woman laugh. Korra couldn't help but focus on the way the woman’s eyes curved into cute half moons as she laughed. As they continued to speak, it was starting to dawn on Korra that this woman was attractive in so many different ways. 

“So you agree then that flash mobs aren’t a thing anymore?”

“No. I don’t break that easily. I do admit that Pizza Rat is the savior of New York though.”

“You’re ridiculous,” the woman laughed as she nudged Korra’s shoulder with her own.

Korra paused for a moment, her brain slightly short circuiting when she noticed the playful gesture. Just as she was about to say something, the train began moving once more.

“Finally,” the woman huffed.

Korra had expected the woman to stop talking with her, but instead they spent the rest of the time passing playful banter between the two of them. It was nice and honestly made the ride fun for once. 

They only passed a few more stops before the woman next to her let out a soft sigh. 

“This is my stop,” she pointed out.

“Oh, okay.”

The woman stood, but then held out her hand to Korra. “It was a pleasure.”

Korra took the offered hand, shaking it in return. “It truly was.”

Their hold lingered for a moment before the woman finally released her hand with a soft smile. She then began to leave with the crowd as the doors finally opened.

Just then it dawned on Korra that she didn’t even know this woman’s name. 

“Wait! What’s your name?” Korra shouted after her. 

The woman looked over her shoulder back at Korra. “Asami Sato!” she shouted back.

Korra’s brow furrowed as the woman left her view. She knew that name from somewhere. And then it hit her. She pulled up the article she had been reading earlier and there it was. Asami Sato, the Lead Designer of the A20 prototype smart mobile.

Korra looked back up from her phone, but it was too late as the new commuters had already filled the space once more and the train was moving. Even though she was gone at this moment, Korra smiled with hope that someday they’d meet again on the Red Line.

**Author's Note:**

> Depending on how people respond to this, I may continue this fic. So let me know peeps.


End file.
